A former Long Island probation officer will spend time behind bars following his conviction stemming from a sexual relationship with a woman he supervised, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Matthew Albertson, 44, of Smithtown, was sentenced to six months in jail followed by five years of probation after pleading guilty to falsely filing an official document, a felony, and official misconduct, a misdemeanor, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Authorities first became aware of Albertson’s inappropriate conduct in the summer of 2023, after an attorney for the woman reported it to county authorities and provided screenshots of text messages showing the two engaged in a sexual relationship from November 2021 through at least March 2022.
A subsequent investigation found that between January 2022 and August 2023, Albertson falsified case notes about the woman’s drug tests, office visits and home visits on at least nine occasions.
The falsified entries included claims that the woman had been drug-tested at the probation office, as well as notes stating that phone check-ins and home and office visits had occurred on specific dates when evidence showed they never took place.
Albertson also gave the woman money on at least 18 occasions — totaling about $8,000 — which was used for a car rental, manicures, food and other expenses, prosecutors said.
In early 2022, after the woman texted him saying she believed she was experiencing a fentanyl overdose, Albertson did not seek medical assistance or report the incident to the probation office.
Instead, he told her to eat sugar, stay awake and wake up her mother, prosecutors said.
“Matthew Albertson engaged in a relationship with a warped power dynamic, holding his probationer’s future in his hands and ignoring all of the policies and procedures meant to protect probationers, officers and the entire system,” District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement Wednesday, announcing the sentencing.
“His betrayal of his sworn duty harmed the progress of the probationer he was assigned to monitor and support, and unfairly damages the reputation of probation officers who bring professionalism and dedication to their positions every day in Nassau County,” Donnelly said.
